Born November 19, 1938, the charismatic Japanese mountaineer Masatsugu Konishi would have turned 86 today.
Konishi took up climbing at a young age. He began with Mount Tanigawa, one of the country’s 100 famous mountains. There, the huge rock wall of Ichinokura-sawa, one of the peaks of the Tanigawa massif, captivated him.
At 18, Konishi joined the Sangaku Doshikai mountaineering association, which later became an important mountaineering club.
Mount Tanigawa, left, and Mount Ichinokura, right, seen from the east. Ichinokura-sawa is in the center. Photo: Kumpei Shiraishi
According to an anecdote told by Sumiko Kashiwa in an article about Konsihi, when Konishi was climbing Yatsugatake mountain at age 19, a difficult wall prompted him to take off his hiking boots and climb almost 3,000m in socks.
First expedition abroad
In February 1967, Konishi led a team from his club to the Alps. Here, they made the third winter ascent of the North Face of the Matterhorn, climbed the North Face of the Grandes Jorasses, and made the second winter ascent of the Eiger direct route.
This expedition made Konishi’s leadership qualities clear. He emphasized strength and disciplined training, and he himself became known as the Iron Man.
Masatsugu Konishi on the North Face of Grandes Jorasses. Photo: via Hume-san
Attempts on Everest
In the autumn of 1969, Konishi joined Hideki Miyashita’s Japanese Alpine Club’s Everest expedition. They wanted to explore Everest’s Southwest Face using bottled oxygen. That autumn, there were only two teams on Everest, and both were Japanese.
Miyashita’s 12-man team moved up the Southwest Face via the central ice couloir to the snow traverse onto the South Ridge. On October 31, Konishi and another future legend, Naomi Uemura, reached their high point at 7,970m. Shigeru Sato and Hiroshi Nakajima followed the next day. Sato then moved up one more pitch to 8,000m, but no one summited.
Again, in the spring of 1970, only two teams targeted Everest. Konishi took part in the one led by Hiromi Ohtsuka. They again targeted the Southwest Face and reached 8,050m.
Then, on May 11, Teruo Matsuura and Naomi Uemura summited by the South Col-Southeast Ridge, followed the next day by Katsutoshi Hirabayashi and Chotare Sherpa. The party used bottled oxygen.
On this second Everest expedition, Konishi reached 7,800m. Unfortunately, Kyak Tsering Sherpa was killed by falling ice on that expedition, and one Japanese climber, Kiyoshi Narita, died of a heart attack.
Jannu’s imposing North Face. Photo: Shutterstock
Jannu and Kangchenjunga
In the spring of 1976, Konishi led an expedition to the North side of 7,710m Jannu.
Between May 11 and 14, 16 members of the expedition (13 climbers and 3 high-altitude porters) topped out via the Northeast Ridge-North Face route, all without bottled oxygen. This was the first ascent of Jannu from the north side. Konishi was among those who summited. Since then, Jannu has been summited from the north on only two other occasions, in 2004 and in 2023.
In the spring of 1980, Konishi led another no-O2 expedition, this time to 8,586m Kangchenjunga. Six climbers and three Sherpas successfully summited via the North Face. Due to health problems, Konishi himself turned around at 8,350m. Despite his personal disappointment, this was the first Japanese ascent of an 8,000’er without oxygen.
The north side of K2. Photo: Sebastian Alvaro
K2
In 1982, Konishi and Isao Shinkai led an expedition to the unclimbed North Ridge of 8,611m K2. Between August 14 and 15, seven climbers summited without supplemental oxygen. Again, Konishi himself did not summit, but his partners completed the sixth ascent of K2 and did so via a new route.
A third attempt on Everest
Konishi attempted Everest one last time in the autumn of 1983 and reached 8,750m without supplemental oxygen. On that expedition, leader Haruichi Kawamura and Shomi Suzuki summited via the South Pillar-Southeast Ridge. Konishi, who was now working as manager of a mountain equipment company, then retired from Himalayan climbing for 11 years.
Dhaulagiri I and Shisha Pangma Central
On Oct. 1, 1994, Konishi returned to the Greater Ranges and summited Dhaulagiri I, as part of an expedition led by Tomiyashu Ishikawa. By then, he was 55, and he used bottled oxygen. One year later, he summited Shisha Pangma Central. Although he was now using supplemental oxygen, Konishi always advocated for going without it.
Manaslu. Photo: Ben Tubby
Disappears on Manaslu
In the autumn of 1996, the Tokyo Alpine Club, under the leadership of Kiyoshi Ishii, headed to the Northeast Face of 8,163m Manaslu. The climbers included 57-year-old Masatsugu Konishi.
Between September 27 and 30, some Japanese and sherpas, including Konishi, summited Manaslu. Konishi reached the top on September 30 at 5:30 pm, using supplemental oxygen. The team had started their summit push late in the day because of strong winds.
During the descent, everyone struggled from exhaustion. Some of his teammates found Konishi sitting at 7,900m. He was tired and decided to bivy for a few hours, far above their high camp at 7,650m.
In a confused state because of the altitude, Konishi moved briefly upward and then disappeared. The other climbers also felt poorly but managed to descend a little more. Everyone was at his limits.
The next morning, one of his teammates went back up and searched unsuccessfully for Konishi. Soon after, bad weather settled in, stranding the team for three days. Sometime during the night of September 30-October 1, Konishi disappeared on Manaslu forever.
Konishi, right, on the North Face of Matterhorn. Photo: via Hume-san
